Circle of Friends
by Animation Universe 2005
Summary: A mexican boy faces discrimination at a new school and along the way, he sees that real friendship can rule over discrimination and judgmental. For vampire1031, whozonegirl and lightfaith0606. Hope ya'll like it! Rated T for language and things pertaining to discrimination.
1. New School, New Environment

Well...this is it! The moment you guys have been waiting for. It's a little departure from what I usually write in my past HHaW fics. This one covers discrimination with one nationality. Dedicated to my buds; vampire1031, whozonegirl and lightfaith0606. I hope you like it! Note that some of those parts of the story in dialogue are in Spanish...so bear with me.

* * *

The Circle of Friends

by: Terrell James

Chapter 1: A New School, New Environment

It was one morning in Whoville High School and it was a very typical day there and soon enough, a young Mexican who; around 15 or 16, has brown and black stripes, his hair was cut short, but has a little bit of fringe covering half of his right eye, a little taller and wears khaki shorts and a red and white shirt; looking at the new school and seems really anxious to set inside to see what it looks like.

"Ay, dios mio." the mexican boy sighed.

He takes a deep breath and walks through the steps of the school and as he enters inside, he could sense that it's a lot different than what he was used to back in his home when there were few kids running around, but there were a lot of them in the halls and he was a little worried that he might be unliked by anyone he might meet.

He walks through the hallways and tries to find his way to the office to notify he's new around here, but the school's so huge, he didn't know where it could be. Just then, one who saw him walking there, feeling lost and he asked, "You new around here?"

The mexican who didn't know how to respond to it and even though he speaks a little bit of English, he was a little nervous to let someone hear his accent and the only response is him nodding his head.

"Hey, my name's Brent."

The mexican clears his throat and replied, "Lars."

"Nice to meet you, Lars." Brent said, holding out his hand for a handshake.

Lars slowly reaches out to his hand and shook Brent's hand and that gave him a little bit of confidence to speak up. He asked, "You know where the principal's office is?"

"Down towards those lockers and make a left." Brent answered.

"Thanks."

Brent nods his head and made his way towards the hallway and after that, Lars went through the hallways and then he finally went into the principals' office and as he went inside, he was a little anxious about this and when the principal looked at Lars, he said, "Hello, can I help you?"

Lars sat down on the chair and he said, "My name is Lars Enrique Ramirez. My family and I are originally from Mexico and we moved here a few days ago."

He pulls out his immigration papers and his enrollment in the high school and gives thme to the principal and as he looks them over, Lars took a deep breath and anxiously awaited to hear back from him.

"Which part of Mexico are you from?"

"Puebla, sir." Lars replied, in a quiet tone.

He looked at Lars for a second and he saw his anxiety about being in a new school and said, "Mr. Ramirez, you'll find Whoville High a very good place to be enrolled in. I see you're excelled in music, math and Who-story, I see."

"Si, senor." Lars added.

The principal gave back his papers to Lars and brought in his school schedule for the first and second semester and he said, "I can assure you that you'll be absolutely welcomed here. Being part mexican myself, I can understand the feeling."

Lars had no idea that the principal is half-mexican too and speaks a little bit of spanish to ensure him that he'll make some phenomenal achievements and Lars replied back in spanish to thank him. With that, Lars gathered up most of his things and said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

As soon as he left the room, Lars started to feel a little bit better about this, but he knew that being in a new school would face challenges along the way. He lets out a sigh and said, "I'm hoping this American school would be better than in Mexico."

But deep in his gut, he's a little unsure.

* * *

Sorry if I made it short. But on the next chapter is where the drama officially begins.


	2. Rough First Day

I promised you guys drama and I hope it delivers!

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Chapter 2: Rough First Day

Lars entered his first class, which was English and he seemed to be a bit nervous about that subject, because he had just learned to speak English prior to moving to Whoville and that seemed to scare him a little due to the fact that he might be made fun of by the way he would speak to others. As he took an empty seat, most students didn't notice him sitting there and he feared that he might not receive a big welcome to anyone there.

Just then, the English teacher comes in the classroom and said, "Good morning, class. I've been told we have a new student here who's from Mexico named...Lars Ramirez."

Lars seemed to be a little shy as some students were staring at him and when she motioned him to come in front of the class, he felt his heart beating faster as he stood up while few students were whispering things about him and as he faced the entire class, the teacher tells him, "Tell us about yourself."

"Shouldn't we have a death wish and deport this weird kid?" one student called out.

Lars didn't see that coming and already one doesn't like him and are making some assumptions about it immediately because of where he's from and Lars said, "I'm Lars Enrique Ramirez."

"He even sounds like we can't understand a freakin' thing he's saying!" another who exclaimed.

"That's enough out of you, Jesse!" the English teacher said.

The older who, 17 years old, a little taller, but thinner, green fur, has shorter hair and wears some blue jeans, white t-shirt and a jersey jacket smirks at Lars and has an immediate disdain for the mexican who and said, "Like I care."

Lars tried to ignore it and wanted to get this over with and he continued on saying, "I just moved with my family from Pueblo, Mexico...and when they told me that we're moving to Whoville, I was a little bit unsure about it because I don't know anyone there nor have I ever been to somewhere else outside my country before. But I'm hoping that this will be a good experience for me."

"Well, you will be very happy here in our school and I would love to hear all about your Mexican culture sometime." the teacher said, enthusiastic.

"Thank you." Lars said.

Then, Lars returned to his seat and almost immediately, he became the subject of some unwanted attention by some high school whos pretty soon, especially with that Jesse kid as he looked at him with an angry glare that reads 'I'm gonna send your ass back to Mexico'.

After the first period ended, Lars headed towards his next class, but he was soon stopped by Jesse and his tough clique as he blocked him out of his way and he said, "Mexico, huh? Does your family sell drugs?"

"No." Lars replied.

"Did you cross to our borders illegally?" another who asked.

"No. My family has a Vis-who. My papi signed the paperwork before we moved to America and they gave him a green card." Lars answered.

Jesse scoffed at Lars and he went up to his face and he said, "Well listen here, Mexican freak...you do not belong in our school. I run this damn school and I am the ringleader of this clique. We've never seen your kind anywhere here and that's how it'll stay...we don't like Mexicans."

Two whos shoved him down to the ground and just laughed at him as they walked off, leaving Jesse to kick Lars in the nuts and he did another one and Jesse said, with an angry smirk, "This is our welcome to America...a good ol' kick in the balls."

Lars groans as he held onto his crotch and he had no idea that he's living in a new environment and has to deal with these people...and it's only the first day here.

'Is this what American people do?' Lars thought.

Throughout the day, Lars really wanted to make some friends at this school, but sometimes...he finds it very challenging to do so as each time he sits down to a group of people for lunch, most people immediately left the table before he could even sit down. Lars didn't know why they did it, but they know it's because of the fact that he's Mexican thinking they're a bad influence.

Even when he tries to make friends with only a few people, most of them gave Lars the cold shoulder and just walks off, making him feel like he's an outcast in a new school.

"This is gonna be harder than I thought." Lars said, sadly.

He was unaware that Jesse was looking over, chuckling deviously and he said, "Boys...I say we've got ourselves a dosage of fresh meat in our hands."

"What do we do with him, Jess?" another who asked.

Jesse thought up of a very devious plan and then, snaps his fingers and said, "I have an idea..."

* * *

What did I tell ya? You'll see plenty more of this Jesse dude in this story. Now you're probably wondering; where are Jojo and the gang? They'll be here soon enough.


	3. Outcast Mexican

And here's how the discrimination grows.

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Chapter 3: Outcast Mexican

Days after his first day of school, Lars had hoped that he can start fresh and make some new friends in his new school, but after that encounter with Jesse and his gang, he's struggling to even find some friends due to the fact that some students were avoiding him or want nothing to do with him because they've never seen a mexican person before and had always assumed that mexicans are bad people and are bad influences.

Lars knew that statement wasn't true and as soon as he entered in the school hallways, everyone stopped and stared directly at him while listening to whispering rumors about him and his nationality.

'This mexican kid doesn't belong here.'

'I bet this kid is gonna kill all of us.'

'Why should his family be here in our country?'

'I bet they're Mexican terrorists.'

Lars sorta heard everything coming out and it was like he's been rejected by half of the students and have distanced themselves from him instead of getting to know him more. Out of the clear blue, one person shoved him down to the lockers and shouted, "We don't need you! Take your ass back where ya came from!"

Most of them cheered this kid on and Lars began to run away from them and headed outside the breezeway and just tried to go straight onto class, hopefully to forget what had happened...but he keeps wondering why they did this. He didn't do anything bad to them. All he wanted was to say 'hi' to anyone, but they just didn't give him that chance.

Just then, a few kids came over towards him and he said, "You Lars?"

Lars looked up at him and replied, "Yeah."

"Hey, my name's Marshall and this is Devon. Jesse told us that he feels really bad about the way he's been towards you and to prove it, he's inviting you to a party this Friday night at his house...hoping that he'll break the ice."

It was unexpected for Lars to hear someone say this and that Jesse actually wanted to make peace with him by a party and he asked, "You serious?"

"Yeah. Here's the address to his house and the party starts at 7:00, Friday night." Marshall said, giving him the 'address' to his house and Lars was thinking that it might give an opportunity to let it all go and just be cool with each other.

"I'll be there then." Lars said, putting the 'address' on his pocket.

"Cool, thanks." Marshall said and ran off.

It made Lars feel a little bit confident that maybe this will put an end to the bullying and the unwanted attention that started in the first place, but he was unaware that Marshall were staring at him, letting out an devious chuckle and said, "He actually bought it."

"Hook, line and stinker." Devon smirked.

Just then, they went towards the hallways where Jesse and his crew were near the lockers and Jesse asked, "Did that mexican punk got the fake address?"

"Yep. We gave it to him." Marshall replied.

Jesse chuckled softly and said, "Great. Our plan's formulating like it's planned as to how we're not gonna let that mexican dude crash our party. He's a freakin' nobody anyway."

Everyone agreed with that and as the bell rung, everyone headed up to class and Jesse thought to himself, 'This is just the beginning the the Mexican's misery.'

* * *

Friday night...

Lars made his way out of the Fairfax Apartments; wearing a grey t-shirt and some khaki pants to head towards Jesse's place and he found the address Marshall had given to him. Lars was a little anxious to see how the others at this party will accept him and hopes that this will be the start of a friendship coming in.

When he finally made it there, he stood on a tree, waiting for Jesse to show up with his friends. It was already 6:50 pm and they figured that they might be here already or that they're on their way.

2 hours later...

It was a quarter to 9:00 and Lars was thinking that Jesse might've gotten lost or something like that and he was hoping he got the right address. He had waited and waited and waited for hours on end and that's when it hit him...

They didn't want him at their party.

Lars could've seen it coming and when he looked up at the address, he soon realized that the house that Marshall gave him...was a condemned house. In disappointment, Lars lets out a sad sigh and said to himself, "I am so estupido. I guess they didn't want me to be their friends after all."

It really hurt Lars' feelings that he got stood up by Jesse's crew and he just crumpled the address, put it in his pocket and made his way home, with tears coming down on his eyes.

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Man, was that brutal or what? What would you guys do after reading this? Next chapter...there's where Jojo and the gang meet Lars.


	4. Meeting Friends

We finally get to see Lars meeting Jojo and the gang!

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Chapter 4: First Friends

Lars was walking back to his home, his head hanging down in hurt and disappointment after finding out that he was given a fake address to Jesse's house and that they didn't want him at his party. It was like a huge blow to the face and it left him wondering that he'll be shunned from the people at Whoville High because of his Mexican background.

He walks past the basketball court where he saw a few people playing and all Lars could do is just watch them play because he knew that he'll be turned away from them, even if he would ask them to play with him.

At the basketball court

"Hey, pass it! I'm open!"

"Here it comes, Marcus!"

Marcus receives the ball and dribbles it and then makes a slam-dunk as he reaches for the net as the ball goes through while Marcus is hanging on top of it, laughing.

"Come on, Marc! Quit showing off!"

Marcus looks up at Cody and Mike and he said, "You guys take it from me! I'm like a pro!"

Mike scoffed at that comment and said, "Pro schmo!"

Marcus got off from the net and landed towards the ground and when he got the ball back, he looks over and said, "Hey, Diego! Your go, man!"

He passes the ball over to Diego and he lets out a slight chuckle and said, "You guys need to step back because you're gonna be schooled."

Diego does his best basketball moves and he went freakin' airborne as he slams it down the net and it made Mike drop his jaw in shock when he saw what Diego did. Diego looks over at Cody and asked, "You got this on film, Codes?"

Cody gave him a thumbs-up as he's holding onto the video camera and Diego chuckled softly and said, "Sometimes in the foster home, I tend to play a little B-ball now and then."

"Show-off number two!" Mike shouted.

Jojo chuckled softly as he got ahold of his towel and as he looked up, he saw someone standing there on the other side of the court and he walks over to him and asked, "Hey, wanna play with us? We could use an extra player."

Lars looks at Jojo for a second and wanted to make sure what he said was clear and he asked, "You want me to join in?"

"Yeah, we do." Jojo replied.

Lars suddenly felt surprised, but also relieved that someone finally would join in something and he came inside the court and Jojo asked, "What's your name?"

"I'm Lars. Lars Enrique Ramirez."

Suddenly, Jojo was familiarized by that name because he shared the same few classes with him at school and he asked, "You're that Mexican guy from school, aren't you?"

"Si."

Jojo sticks out his hand for a handshake and he said, "Name's Jojo McDodd."

Lars shook his hand and he suddenly felt like he made a new friend for the first time in nearly a week and said, "Nice to meet you."

Jojo took Lars towards the others and they garnered their attention and greeted themselves to him, in which made Lars completely amazed that they said 'hi' to him.

"What's up? I'm Mike and this is my brother, Cody."

"The name's Marcus.

"I'm Diego."

"I'm Zeke."

"Frankie and this is my brothers, Max and Manny."

"I'm Jonah Mosley and these are my brothers; Sam, Travis, Cyrus and Hawk."

"The name's Seth and this is my brother, Austin."

"My name's Ryan and this is Jared."

Lars was completely surprised by the amount of people that introduced themselves to him and he said, "Nice to meet all of you. You guys don't think my accent is weird, do ya?"

"Nah, of course not." Marcus replied.

Zeke puts down his water bottle to the ground and he asked, "So you're really from Mexico?"

"Yeah, my family and I came here almost a week ago after we left Puebla. Since I've been here, school is very difficult for me...especially when making new friends." Lars said.

"Why's that?" asked Manny.

Lars lets out a big sigh and wasn't sure how they'll take it and Diego went towards him and told him, "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to."

Lars clears his throat and said, "Well...a few students didn't want to be friends with me because they say that we mexicans are bad people doing illegal things, but it's not always true. My family are good people and we're doing our best to make Whoville our home."

Max could immediately tell by Lars' explained detail that he's been shunned from mostly everyone in school and he asked, "What was their reason?"

"That I shouldn't belong in this school because I'm mexican." Lars replied.

That seemed to piss mostly everyone off after that statement, including Diego. He growls lowly and said, "Give me their names and I'll shove them down for ya."

"Hey, calm down, D." Ryan said.

Diego looks over at Lars and he said, "But it's discrimination! Those punks in the hallways don't like this guy just because he's different from others!"

Lars didn't know how to respond to Diego's response and Jonah went up to him and said, "Don't mind Diego. He's always one to defend others...sometimes not in a good way."

Diego lets out a sarcastic laugh and said, "Very funny, Jonah."

"I just came out of a condemned house because someone gave me a fake address to a certain party that I was invited to, but I realized that they didn't want me around." Lars explained.

"Who's they?" asked Seth.

"Jesse and his crew."

That seemed to set Marcus off a little bit because he knows Jesse and his jock crew and he said, "That's messed up, man. Why would those buttholes do this?"

"I don't know. I guess they thought I was uncool." Lars replied.

Marcus sighed heavily and he said, "Remind me to kick these jocks in the balls one day."

Lars lets out a small chuckle at that and he said, "You're funny, amigo."

Just then, they see Brent coming in the basketball court, wearing some basketball shorts and a white undershirt and he said, "Sorry I'm late, guys. Would've been here a couple of minutes earlier if I hadn't have lost my Who-pod...which was found in my basketball bag the whole time."

"How long did you find it?" asked Jojo.

"20 minutes."

Brent looked over and he saw Lars standing there and he said, "Hey, Lars. Didn't see you there."

"Hola, Brent. Nice to meet you again." Lars said.

Brent sighed heavily and he said, "We've met on his first day here and suddenly, I heard that a few students were making up false rumors about his family, saying that they're mexican terrorists for a drug war or whatever. And I could not believe that they would do that to him."

"Si, it is true. They said some things that are all lies about me and I've been turned away by them. All I wanted was to make friends here." Lars said, sadly.

Hawk puts his hand on Lars' shoulder and said, "You have friends now."

"Where?"

"Right in front of you."

Lars looks around and sees that all of these people are giving him a chance and it became the hugest relief and emotional moment for him that he's finally making friends now and he said, "You mean it?"

"We may be outcasts, but we're together as one. And you're now a part of us." Marcus said.

"Thank you, guys. Muchas gracias, mi amigos." Lars said, in tears.

"You're welcome." Zeke said.

Diego clears his throat and he said, "All righty. Who's up for some basketball?"

Everyone agreed and as soon as they started, Lars definitely felt like he really belongs and he was completely happy that he's being accepted by Jojo and his friends and the fact that he's in the same school as them makes it better and he's hoping that it'll stay that way.

* * *

Now that we see Jojo and the others meeting Lars, the story will proceed. And we'll get to know a little more about Brent later on in the story as well as Lars.


	5. Discrimination Growth

Lars has gotten some friends, but even that won't end the increase of discrimination of some students in Whoville High and the drama begins to intensify.

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Chapter 5: Discrimination Growth

By the next week, everything seems to be looking up for Lars. Despite being tricked by Jesse, he's finally found some new friends that he met at the basketball court and they go to the same school he's in. He's really hoping that maybe this whole ordeal he's faced will end. As he was walking on his way to school, he seeks Mike and Cody riding in their skateboards and both of them caught up with Lars and Mike said, "Yo, Lars! My dude!"

Lars chuckled softly at that and didn't know how to respond other than the fact that he was humored by it and he said, "Hola, amigos."

Cody went over to him and greeted him in Spanish, which surprised Lars and shocked Mike that he spoke fluent Spanish and Lars immediately understood as he replied back in Spanish too. Mike clears his throat and asked, "Codes, how did you even speak Spanish?"

"Remember that Spanish tape my mom got me for Christmas?" Cody asked.

Mike recalled that certain moment Cody had that as a christmas gift and replied, "Oh, yeah. I still couldn't understand a freakin' thing you said."

Lars asked Cody, "You speak spanish too?"

"Kinda fluent. I'm still learning though...both on my tape and in spanish class; which is Mike's weakest subject next to math and anatomy." Cody replied.

Mike rolled his eyes at his brother's comments and said, "Dude, math sucks. Why should we use it in our lives?"

Lars was curious about how Mike and Cody are and he asked, "You guys always like this?"

"Most days." Mike replied.

"You could say that." Cody said.

Then, they saw Jojo and the Mosley brothers along with Diego, Zeke, Ryan, Frankie, Max, Austin, Seth and Jared right behind them and everyone greeted each other as they caught up with them and Lars could not believe how many friends he's surrounded with and he felt like this was gonna be a good day.

That is until they got to Whoville High School and most student's eyes were on Lars, just glaring at him in a more hate-filled look and Lars had no idea what's happening here. Just then, Marcus caught up with Jojo and the others as they walked towards the hallways and he could sense the ice-cold glares of a few students staring at Lars. He then asked, "What are you all looking at?"

"The mexican kid. Why should he be in our school?" one who asked, in a snarky yet cold tone.

Marcus didn't like where this was going and he asked, "Because he's new and we should respect people from different cultures."

"But not here!"

Just then, Marcus and the others turned around and saw Jesse and some of his posse coming in and that really pissed him off to a point where he really wanted to punch the dude, but he walked over to him and asked, "Lars told us about what you did."

Jesse was shocked to hear that Lars told Marcus about what they actually did on Friday night and he asked, "How much did you know?"

"You had the stinkin' balls to stand him up by giving him a fake address to your jock-ass party?" asked Marcus, in a furious tone.

Jesse turned to Lars and he went up to him and said, "Look here, mexican...if you think you're gonna stick around here in this high school you've got another thing coming. From the time school begins to the time it ends, I'm the top dog of this school and when it comes to misfits, we don't give a crap about them...even new ones. You're a threat to our reputation."

Diego stepped in and said, "What reputation? I don't see it."

Jesse eyed Diego and he knew that he was gonna push his buttons very easily and he shoved him down and that didn't take Diego very lightly, but he knew when to keep his cool under tense situations or altercations and he said to Jesse, "Look, mess with my friend again and we're gonna have some problems."

"Ha! Friend! What kind of sick twisted mind would you want to be friends with this...this...freak?" Jesse asked.

Jojo stepped in front of him and asked, "Why are you being a douchebag? We're his true friends."

Some of the other students were willing to pound Lars for just coming into their school because they think that mexicans shouldn't be in their territory, but since they've never seen one before, they don't know how to react or deal with it based on prejudice and fear. One stepped forward and said, "Mexicans are not our friends! They're our enemies!"

Lars didn't like what they were saying and he said, "We are not enemies! We are just like you. Why are you making this so hard to accept me?"

"We've never even seen a mexican student before. We're afraid that we might get killed by you or your family." another who added.

Jonah scoffed at this and he asked, "That's your excuse? You're taking something like this out of the news or some crap like that. Not all mexicans are bad if you get to know one."

Jesse looked at them and asked, "Why should we?"

"Maybe if you weren't so quick to judge, this wouldn't be a problem." Max chimed in.

Suddenly, the bell rings and most of the students walk away while keeping their angry glare on Lars and Jesse looked up at them and said, "We're not finished with you yet. I'll turn the whole damn school against you if it's the last thing I do...so watch your back."

Lars quickly shouted at him in angry Spanish and Jojo planned to break it up before it gets out of hand and Jesse said, "We can't even understand anything you're saying, mexi-freak!"

Lars was seriously miffed about this and then he said, "Understand this, estupidos!"

With that, Lars gave them the middle finger as a way of defending himself, his friends and his heritage and Jesse knew that this was far from over and as he walks out, Marcus went over to Lars and said, "Don't worry, Lars. We got your back."

"Gracias, mi amigos."

* * *

Didn't expect that coming from me, huh? Well, we got more coming up!


	6. Getting to Know Lars

Admist all the drama, we begin to get to know a little more about Lars.

* * *

Chapter 6: Getting to Know Lars

At lunchtime, Lars walked across the cafeteria and when he saw Jojo and some of his friends sitting at the table, he was eager to join them. And in a twist, Diego saw him coming by and he said, "Lars, there's a seat right here, man."

Lars quickly went over to the table and when he sat down, he saw some more of Jojo's friends and he said, "Hey, I see we got more friends."

"Yep. Lars, these are our friends; Caitlyn, Misty, Chad, Stephen, Dustin, Josh, Hoagie, Noah and Brutus." Jojo said, as he introduced them.

"Hola." Lars said.

Josh widened his eyes as he heard Lars' accent come out and he asked, "Where ya from?"

"Originally from Puebla, Mexico, but I live in Whoville now." Lars replied.

Misty was completely blown away by the fact that he's from Mexico and she said, "That is amazing! I always wanted to meet an actual Mexican."

Lars lets out a small chuckle after hearing this compliment and he said, "Thank you. I've been here for a week now and it started off really tough. I don't know why several students here don't like me, saying that I don't belong here."

Most of them were shocked to hear this and Noah asked, "What do you mean?"

"Some people in this school were assuming that I'm here illegally or that I'm starting a drug war with my family and that's not true. They're just assuming these things based on what you read or see in the news, but not all Mexicans are like that. We're really just trying to live our own lives and hopefully, show that we're good people like everyone else." Lars explained.

Hoagie took a sip of his soda and he said, "Oh, yeah...you're that kid I saw introducing yourself to my class on the first day you came here. I never got a chance to meet you because some random students were staring up stupid rumors about you. I'm not really one to judge other people based on who they are that quickly or what they look like. I get along with mostly everyone."

"That's cool." Lars added.

"So...what do we want to know about you, Lars?" asked Zeke.

Lars clears his throat and he said, "I learned how to speak English before I came here to Whoville since I was like...6 or something. I always speak spanish, but I had a hard time understanding English so I went to several English classes in Mexico and I sorta caught on a little bit. My family...we love to make mexican food and also mexican music. My mom's like...excellent at making salsa, burritos, tortillas, quesadillas...every single mexican food you could think of, she makes. And my papi...he's an excellent musician; plays guitar, maracas and samba."

They were amazed at how much knowledge about Mexican life and Jojo said, "That sounds incredible. It actually makes me want to go to Mexico."

"What is samba anyway?" asked Mike.

Misty rolled her eyes at Mike's question and said, "Samba is a traditional latin dance style that's been going around for centuries."

"It's very big where I'm from." Lars added.

Brutus nodded his head at that and he said, "I'm originally from Who-waii and I lived here for about eight months now. I used to live with my dad, but I ended up living at one of my friends' house and they made me feel like I'm part of the family."

"It kinda sucks when people are too afraid to get to know a diferent person before they make their judgment because they're too stupid to understand it. Everyone should be allowed to be friends with someone like you, Lars." Marcus said.

Lars lets out a big sigh and he said, "You don't know what I've been through since last week."

"But we all know what it's like to not fit in. We're in your corner whenever you need us." Jojo added.

Lars felt like he could use all the support he can get and with Jojo and his friends by his side, he will get through this really well and said, "You're good people here."

"So are you."

* * *

Lars has got some good friends now. We've got more coming up!


	7. Meeting the Parents

This is where the gang meets Lars' parents. They don't know about the discrimination until later in the story.

* * *

Chapter 7: Meeting the Parents

Sometime later after school, Jojo and the gang takes Lars back to the basketball court to play some one-on-one with the gang and as they began playing, most of them were really surprised at how Lars got really good at playing basketball as he did several slam-dunks that amazed Diego, Cody, Jonah, Zeke and Frankie while it shocked Mike, Max, Austin, Seth and Jojo that Lars has basketball skills.

"How do you say 'how the freakin' heck you did that' in Spanish?" asked Frankie, his mouth hung open.

Lars looked at Frankie a little cross-eyed, apparently confused by that question and asked, "What?"

Brent walked over and entered the courtyard and he was happy to see Lars there and said, "Lars, my new amigo!"

Lars greeted him in spanish and high-fived him, which made Brent respond with a fist bump and both of them started laughing and Diego said, "Well, glad you showed up early."

Brent scoffs at that and said, "Didn't know you guys were gonna be here."

Diego puts on his headband and brings in the basketballs and said, "You may be new here to us, but I'm still gonna kick your ass."

Brent smirked at that cocky tone in Diego's voice and said, "Not if I kick yours first."

Mike lets out a whistle, sensing there's gonna be a lot of competition between the two of them and that of course...made Diego look very serious about this and he said, "We'll see about that."

And with that, the boys went forward and did some B-ball playing as Brent dribbles the ball and Diego blocks in his way to prevent him from shooting some hoops, but Brent threw the ball anyway as it lands into the net and everyone started cheering for Brent, including Lars.

"Si yo puede!" Lars exclaimed.

Hoagie scratched his head in confusion and asked, "Uh...what?"

"It means 'yes you can' in Spanish. It's a mantra that runs in my family that whatever obstacle we may face, we always remember that quote because it has a lot of meaning to it." Lars explains.

Everyone seemed pretty impressed and inspired by that meaning and it touched Brent very personally at that and he said, "Yeah, that's something I'll remember for the rest of my life."

"Enough talk, dude. If you spent enough time playing basketball in the gym or in your backyard in Who-ami, you might as well handle a basketball court here in Whoville." Diego said.

Later on, Brent brought in Lars, Jojo, Jared, Ryan, Seth, Austin, Brutus and Marcus on his team while Diego brought in Jonah, Cyrus, Hawk, Travis, Sam, Mike, Cody, Frankie, Hoagie, Josh, Noah, Dustin, Zeke and Stephen in another team planning to go for the goals.

"Your team will be kicked in the balls when we win." Brent said, smirking.

"Mine or yours?" asked Diego.

Soon enough, Manny blew the whistle as a sign that game's on and everyone begins playing ball in teams and what was surprising for them is that Lars is gaining a lot of super skills, which surprises both teams as he keeps bringing in more slam dunks. Brent chuckled softly and said, "How are you so good at this?"

"I used to play basketball with my dad. He was always better than me." Lars replied.

"Dude, with those dunks, you could beat your dad." Mike exclaimed.

Brent and the others could tell that Lars had a lot of basketball practice in Mexico and with several more ball shots, he was able to beat out Diego's team very quickly. After only just an hour, Manny looks up at the scoreboard and said, "Okay...now for the score; between you guys' teams; it's 35-21."

Brent dropped his jaw in shock after finding out that his team had won the game and he said, "We won, guys!"

Diego rolled his eyes at that, but he couldn't blame Lars for being so good and he said, "Great game, Lars."

"Gracias, mi hermano." Lars said.

"De nada." Cody replied.

Not long after that, Lars' parents walked in and when Lars saw them, he was delighted to see them as he came towards them and said, "Hola, mama, papi."

"Hola, mi hijo," Lars's mother said.

"Ay, que paso?"

Brent walks over to meet Lars' parents for the first time and he said, "Hey, I'm Brent Rodriguez, Lars' friend."

Lars' father shook Brent's hand and he asked, "You know my son from school?"

"Yes, sir."

Just the, the rest of them came over to meet Lars' parents and Lars' mother was amazed at how many friends their son has gained and she said, "Oh, my..."

"Hello, Mrs. Ramirez. We're all Lars' friends from our high school." Jojo said, greeting them.

"Have you been taking good care of our son?" asked Mr. Ramirez.

"Si, senor. We've been taken very good care of him." Brent added.

Mr. Ramirez was utterly surprised that Brent does speak a little bit of Spanish and he asked, "You speak spanish too?"

"Only a little bit of it. My family and I are originally from Who-ami and I lived here for...about 2 months now, so it's a little different than what I'm used to...warm beaches, palm trees, the big houses...but my family keeps their When-eta Rico heritage too." Brent explained.

"I did not know that." Max stated.

Brent looks at Max and replied, "You never asked."

Mr. Ramirez pats his son's shoulder and said, "Come on, hijo. Time to head back to our casa so we can finish some unpacking."

"Esta bien, papi." Lars responds.

Diego chuckled softly and said, "All right, Lars. See ya tomorrow at school."

"Nice to meet you both." Jojo added.

Everyone said their 'bye's' to each other as Lars got in his parents' car and went back home and soon after, Marcus looks up and said, "Hey, it's been good...but I gotta head to work. My dad needs some help making this new invention of pizza called buffalo wing pizza."

"Sounds delicious." Mike said.

Marcus chuckled softly and said, "Yeah, thank goodness it's something I can actually taste."

As Marcus left the basketball court, everyone else seems to feel a little worried for Lars about how much longer most of the students at the school will continue to reject him because of his ethnicity, but no one was more worried than Brent because he has the same ethnic background as Lars and he knew that it's something that will never go away unless more people take the time to get to know a person before they make their judgment.

"You okay, B-Rod?" asked Mike.

Brent sighed heavily and replied, "I don't know. When I heard those rumors about Lars when he first came here and that everyone else rejected him because he's Mexican, it just makes me angry, you know? I wanted to punch, curse, scream at these people...anything I could to get this feeling out. No one deserves to be discriminated."

Diego walks over to Brent and said, "I agree, man. We need to do something about this."

Jojo looks over at the guys and asked, "And fast."

* * *

We've got drama coming up and trust me, it'll make ya salivate. And the aggressive mexican hater returns!


	8. Jesse's Threat

We got more of Jesse here and this time around...he's doing some sort of plot. Originally, I wasn't gonna do this chapter, but I felt like I had to do it anyway because I wanted Jesse to see that Lars is a threat to the school because he's mexican and Jesse talks one of Lars' new buds to betray him. Here's how it goes down.

* * *

Chapter 8: Jesse's Threat

The next day at school, Brent was making his way to school and he was definitely excited to see Lars again as well as everyone else in school, but all of a sudden...he sees Jesse coming in front of him with his entire posse, stopping him dead in his tracks.

"Hey, Brent. Came here with a warning for ya." Jesse said, in a cold tone.

Brent was so sick of Jesse coming in his business and he asked, "What do you want? Can't you see I don't wanna join your group?"

"Stay away from that Mexican kid. He's a threat to our reputation." Jesse replied.

That made Brent completely uneasy with that decision and he's good friends with Lars and for Jesse to tell him to have nothing to do with him because of his ethnicity really didn't sit well with him and he said, "Who, Lars? Why should I?"

"Look, if you wanna be one of us, you have to betray this guy."

Suddenly, it just came out of nowhere with the fact that Jesse's saying that Brent 'wants to be one of them' when he know he doesn't want anything to do with them at all because that's not how he would treat anyone like that and he said, "Look, Lars is my friend. I can't go join you behind his back."

"We know of your ethnicity too. Normally, I would've made some false rumors about you on Whosebook or Twhat-tter...but why do it? You're good at basketball and you have the ability to be one of the jocks." Jesse stated.

Marshall went over to Brent and he told him, "You're too cool to hang with that Mexican kid. Be one of us."

"And you can start by ditching that Lars dude. He doesn't belong in this school and we're gonna turn the whole school against him. What do ya say?" Jesse said.

Brent really wanted to turn down this decision because that's his friend and he would never do that to Lars and he would never discriminate him no matter what anyone says and before Brent could respond, Jesse told him, "Make your decision before lunch."

They walked away and it left Brent with a very heavy heart, but he knows to follow his inner gut and just turn down that amount of pressure Jesse instilled in his head.

As he finally made it to school, he witnessed Lars getting pummeled and thrown down by some of the more popular kids in the school and Brent couldn't bear to watch it unfold.

"We don't need you!"

"Take your ass back where you belong!"

"If you don't leave Whoville, we're gonna go out and kill your family!"

"Mexicans are bad and dangerous like you!"

"We're protecting Whoville High from the likes of you!"

This completely enrages Brent to a point where he cannot stand to watch anymore, so he had to step in and intervene before it grows worse and he stood by Lars' side to end the fight and he saidm "Leave him alone!"

One of the popular kids were shocked to see Brent defending Lars and one asked, "Do you actually think you can stand up for this...this...freak?!"

"He's my best friend. It's not fair that you're discriminating this guy! How would you like it if someone did the same thing to you?" Brent asked, in anger.

Another popular kid scoffed and said, "At least I wouldn't be mexican and I wouldn't care."

"And why would he be your best friend anyway?"

Brent stared at all of them and said, "I'm from Who-ami, but my family's origins are from Where-to Rico...so I'm hispanic too. If you wanna judge someone, judge me."

Most of them were disturbed to hear that Brent has the same ethnic background as Lars and they immediately left in anger and he turned to Lars and asked, "You okay?"

Lars looks up at Brent with tears in his eyes and he said, "Thank you for standing up for me...but why?"

"It's the right thing to do." Brent replied.

Lars immediately pulled himself in and hugged Brent tightly and in response, Brent hugged back too and he was on the verge of breaking down in tears because he didn't like anyone that would discriminate mexican or spanish people in a different country and he knows it's wrong.

'I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you. That's a promise.' Brent thought to himself.

* * *

Talk about drama, man. What do you think the choice Brent will make? You'll know the answer on the next chapter! Also...what would you guys do to Jesse?


	9. Brent's Decision

We finally see Brent's decision that Jesse made and here's how it's going down!

* * *

Chapter 9: Brent's Decision

As lunchtime came closer, Jesse and his crew waited for Brent to come and tell them his decision to ditch Lars and hang with the jock crew and as Jesse kept looking at his watch, the wait seemed too long and he asked, "He'd better show up."

"If he doesn't, want me to deck him for ya?" Devon asked, putting his fists up.

Jesse lets out an embarassed sigh and said, "Put those fists away."

Devon slowly puts them down and takes one quick jab in the air to pretend that it's Brent before he comes and all of a sudden, in comes Brent walking down the hallway on his way to lunch and all of them waited around in anticipation and Jesse said, "He's definitely gonna be one of us now."

Just then, Brent walks past them and when Jesse called him out, Brent stopped and then he turns around and saw them standing and asked, "Have you decided?"

"Decided what?" asked Brent.

Jesse smirked at his pretend confusion and answered, "To betray and ditch that Mexican dude and hang with us."

Brent could tell that this was gonna be a big decision, but after what had happened to Lars in the school earlier this morning, he knew in his heart that he's made a good decision and he said, "That's easy."

Jesse was already excited about the reaction Brent was gonna say and Marshall quickly intervened and said, "Come on, spit it out!"

Brent looked at them straight in the eye and said, "The answer is...no."

And then, Jesse twitched his eye a little bit and grew increasingly and strangely angry that Brent had turned down this decision and he asked, "What did you just say?"

"You heard me. The answer's no, Jesse." Brent replied.

"No?"

"Yeah. What are you, deaf and stupid? I said no!" Brent exclaimed.

Jesse felt like his heart was stabbed in his chest and got alienated by the one decision he laid out for Brent and that he was still gonna defend Lars. He angrily confronted him and asked, "Why the hell would you care for this unwanted immigrant?"

"He's my best friend!" Brent spat out.

That made all the jock gang just froze for a second and Jesse could not believe what he had just heard and he said, "You have let a good opportunity slip away! We actually thought you were cool."

Brent released himself from Jesse's grip and he said, "I am cool...and I just proved it. And if he's what you call him, then so am I!"

Brent walks away from them as he heads his way to the cafeteria and for Jesse...he felt like that was the last straw and that he swore on revenge against not only Lars but Brent as well. He growls at this and said, "If Brent can't make Lars' life a living hell, then I will!"

* * *

Sounds like trouble! There's more coming up!


	10. Lars Opens Up

We seek the drama intensify and suddenly, someone finds out. Who is it? You'll see!

* * *

Chapter 10: Lars Opens Up

After school, Lars made his way back home after a very difficult day at school and he still felt tormented by those people who kept shoving him down and rejecting him because he's Mexican and to him, it felt like he was hurt by them. But somehow...the discrimination was far from over.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Jesse and his crew began to chase Lars through the town and when Lars looked behind, he could see them coming after him and he began running as further away from them as possible, hopefully trying to make it home in one piece.

"Come back here, Lars! We just wanna take ya home!" Marshall said, laughing maniacally.

Lars kept running faster and faster and faster but then they were gaining on him, which adds to his fear factor that he might get hurt or worse and suddenly, Jesse grabbed him by the arm and just shoved him down to the ground and the gang started to charge on him and beat him up.

Suddenly, Jesse slams on top of him, grabbing his neck hoping that he'll die of asphyxiation and said, "Say goodbye to the world, Mexican freak!"

Lars struggles to break free, but Jesse keeps clutching his grip and Lars began choking for air and suddenly..

"What the hell do you bastards think you're doing to him?!"

In comes Diego and Marcus and they looked completely pissed off at Jesse and his crew after witnessing what had happened and as Marcus saw Jesse grabbing Lars' neck, Marcus went up to him and punched him in the face, which in turn caused Lars to be released from Jesse's grip and began coughing and gasping for air.

Diego immediately went over to him and gave him his bottled water and he said, "Did those dumb-asses kill you?"

Lars was chugging down some water, hoping to regain his breathing and he started panting heavily and he nodded his head and Marcus told Jesse, "You coulda killed him!"

"So? He doesn't belong here, anyway! I'm just doing what's best for our school!" Jesse shot back.

Marcus grew very angry at Jesse and he asked, "Best for our school or best for you guys?"

Suddenly, Diego shoved Jesse down towards the ground and he said, "That's for trying to choke him! And for trying to humiliate him on Whosebook!"

Marcus quickly turned to Diego and asked, "Whosebook?"

"Yeah, I was checking my Whosebook earlier today and I saw something that says, 'No Mexicans in our school! Like me if you wanna send some messages to make his life miserable' and amazingly...10,000 people responded!" Diego replied angrily, looking at his phone and to both Lars and Marcus' shock...many of those were death threats to his family and insulting slurs.

That obviously hurt Lars and he just ran away, crying hysterically and after that, Marcus said to him, "You guys are idiots! Cyber-bullying?! Really?"

"We don't see it as cyber-bullying. We perfer...internet hi-jinks." Devon replied.

Diego disagreed with that elusive comment and he said, "You guys have nothing better to do than humiliate people online? We call it cyber-bullying and cyber-discrimination!"

Marshall scoffed at that and he said, "Your words mean nothing!"

Marcus didn't need to take this anymore and he said, "Come on, Diego. Let's go. We don't have time for these nimrods."

"I'm with you, Marc. You guys can kiss my ass for all I freakin' care." Diego responded angrily as he walked away.

The Ramirez home

Mrs. Ramirez was completely worried for her son after finding out that someone made some death threats to Lars online and discriminating remarks to him at school. She was completely unaware that it had already happened and that he didn't tell anyone about it. Just then, she received a knock on the door and when she answered, it was Diego and Marcus standing there and Marcus said, "Hey, Mrs. Ramirez. Is Lars here?"

"Si. Come in." Mrs. Ramirez said.

Diego and Marcus entered the home and they've never seen anything like it before and wondered this is where they live now and Mrs. Ramirez asked, "Have you two noticed my son never told me about how the people at the school discriminated him?"

"Yes, we did. The students discriminated him, but the teachers didn't." Diego answered.

It puts in a lot of fear for Mrs. Ramirez, worrying that this could be what might happen if they live here longer and she asked, "Why didn't he tell me about this?"

"He might've been scared to tell you." Marcus added.

"I don't think we've ever had to deal with something like this before, you know people rejecting others just because they're different or from another country. It just makes me really mad." Diego said, in a bitter tone.

Mrs. Ramirez sat down on the dining room chairs and she lets out a simple sigh and said, "Hijo, come down please."

Not long after, Lars went downstairs and saw Diego and Marcus sitting there and he walked over to them and said, "Hola."

"Hey, we just came by to see if you were okay." Marcus replied.

Lars lets out a big sigh and his mother looked at him and asked, "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"I was too scared to, mama. It's been like that since the first day and I've been bullied, punched, kicked, rejected, threatened and discriminated by almost everyone here and it made me feel sad that no one likes me just because I'm from Mexico. If I told anyone, I would put your lives in danger and I don't want that to happen." Lars explained, through tears.

His mother grabbed ahold of her son and just hugged him tightly with tears coming down her face and she whispered, "It's okay, hijo. It will be okay."

She looked at both Marcus and Diego and she said, "Lars is very lucky to have friends like you."

Diego agreed with that and he said, "He's everything to us."

Marcus nodded his head and said, "We need to do something about this."

"Something must be done."

* * *

It must be done, right? You'll see what that means coming up!


	11. Video Blog

We answer this question we left on the last chapter. Let this be a lesson to anyone who discriminates people who are different from us.

* * *

Chapter 11: Video Blog

That same day, Lars went to his room and quickly got on his computer and thought about making a video blog about his experience about being discriminated because of his Mexican heritage and he figured that what if people go through that same thing as well. Maybe he should share that kind of knowledge to help others and accept themselves for who they are and that things will get better and people shouldn't be afraid or stay away from people who are different from them.

As he turns on his webcam, he cleared his throat and began to let it all out.

"Hola, my name is Lars Enrique Ramirez, discriminated victim. Have you ever felt like you're being turned away because you're different than anyone else? I've experienced those kinds of harsh reactions just recently when I moved here to Whoville and started going to Whoville High. Some students there want to fight me, threaten me, humiliate me and let others turn against me because I'm mexican. Being Mexican is no shame because it is how I am. And I know it is how you are too. We should not treat others in such harsher, hateful ways to each other. We are all people just like everyone else. We should not be afraid to accept people because of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or anything else and just be friends with them. Life is not fair sometimes, but you know what? You just have to stay strong and do not be afraid to be yourself. Just embrace it and be proud of who you are. There is no shame in that. It will get better someday. I promise you, it gets better. Te amo, amigos."

Lars shuts off the webcam and then, he replays the speech he gave out and he sees this as his own way of telling people to not be afraid of who they are because it makes them stronger and that he might influence a lot of people who goes through that same thing.

Not long after, he posted this video to WhoTube and he's hoping that it'll touch a lot of people and make them feel like they're special.

"It will get better." Lars whispered to himself.

On the next day...

Lars walked downstairs, anxiously getting ready for school and as he was about to leave, his dad stopped him for a second and he seemed to be a little bit concerned for his son, but also a little bit emotional and said, "That video you made last night...I'm very proud of what you're contributing. Your mother told me about what had happened in school yesterday and I had no idea that you were discriminated."

Lars had no idea how his father knew about it, but he lets out a small exhale and he said, "I was too afraid to tell you."

"Hijo...you should not be afraid to tell me anything. Your mother and I love you very much and we just want what's best for you. If only I had known what was going on with you sooner." Mr. Ramirez said, with guilt in his voice.

"Papi..." Lars said.

His father hugged Lars tightly and he wished that they'd go back to Mexico so they Lars wouldn't have to cope with this painful ordeal and he whispered something spanish to his son with worry in his voice and Lars responded back saying that he'll be okay. They let go of each other for a second and his father said, "I love you, son."

"I love you too, papi." Lars said.

As soon as he left the house and made his way to school, his father stood there in the porch watching him go and he lets out a big sigh and whispered, "Son..."

When he finally made it, some students went forward to him; most of them misfits, outcasts with different ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientation thanked him for posting that video he posted last night because it completely related to them in a deeper personal level.

"Hello, Lars."

"Loved the video you made."

"It spoke to me in ways I've never knew."

"I cried throughout the whole thing."

"Thank you for speaking out for us."

"We need people like you to help us through this struggle. I'm bisexual and I know what it feels like to be discriminated against."

"I wish the world would be more like you."

Lars had no idea how much of an impact these people made with the video he made and he asked, "Really?"

"Yeah, we did."

Just then, Jojo, Diego and the rest of the crew walked over to Lars and Jojo was the first one to say, "Saw your video last night. It takes courage for you to do that."

"Yeah, we need to let people know that we should respect all Mexicans and their heritages, cultures and values." Diego added.

"And if they got a problem with it, they'll have to answer to us." Marcus added.

"Gracias, mi amigos." Lars said.

* * *

How awesome is that? We gots more coming up!


	12. Petition

So the heat of discrimination keeps getting hotter and half of the gang comes up with this idea to end this discrimination so they wouldn't hate on Mexicans. All for the support of Lars.

* * *

Chapter 12: Petition

Noah stepped inside the school's newspaper room and he was surprised to see Zeke, Brutus, Brent and Marcus there and he wanted to know what they're doing there, so he went over to them and asked, "What are you guys doing?"

"We're making a petition." Zeke replied.

Noah widened his eyes after he heard the word 'petition' coming out of Zeke's mouth and he asked, "What for?"

"Since Lars' video and the amount of discrimination some of the studens have towards Lars because of his Mexican background, we figured that we might as well let everyone know that discrimination is wrong and we should respect others instead of being feared or rejected by it and I'm hoping that everyone will sign this." Zeke replied.

"It was all Brent's idea." Marcus added.

Noah looks at Brent and he asked, "You're the mastermind of this?"

"I want them to realize that discrimination is very wrong and no one should fall victim of that kind of harsh pain." Brent explained.

Noah looks at this petition and he was a little bit surprised that they actually did that and he said, "I gotta say...I'm deeply impressed. All for Lars, right?"

"All for Lars." Brutus added.

Just then, one teacher looked at this petition and as Brent gave it to her, her eyes completely widened as she saw the words 'end discrimination against the Mexicans' and she turned to Brent and asked, "Did you make this?"

"I had a lot of help." Brent said.

"What is this petition for?"

"You remember Lars? He's been picked on and pretty much almost every student discriminated him through the past week and we know that it's wrong to do that to someone." Brent answered.

The teacher widened her eyes more as she recalls a time she witnessed some people making threats towards Lars about his mexican heritage and how fearful she became for him and that no one deserves to be treated like that. She said, "This is a very good idea you're doing for Lars. This would definitely bring more awareness of how serious discrimination is."

Noah chuckled softly and he said, "You're a genius."

With no time, Brent, Zeke and Marcus went in to put the petition to end discrimination against Lars to the bulletin board and hope that more people will be open minded about Mexican cultures and that they should respect it and accept it rather than discriminate it.

"You think people will sign it?" asked Zeke.

Brent lets out a huge sigh and he said, "We don't know for sure, but let's keep our fingers crossed."

Hours had passed by and as the final bell rung, they went back to the bulletin board to see how many people had signed the petition and surprisingly...in the first three pages, there were 100-plus signatures given by several students and Brent chuckled for a second and said, "That's a huge amount of support there."

And then, Marcus looks over and sees a sticky note placed in the bulletin board that reads, 'That petition can kiss our asses! That stupid-ass Mexican will never amount to anything! Jesse.'

Once Marcus read that, he grew enraged to the point where he needs to put an end to this whole thing once and for all, petition or no petition.

'Don't worry, Lars. No one's gonna hurt you anymore.' Marcus thought.

* * *

We've gots plenty more heading your way!


	13. Outpour of Support

You'd be surprised by how much support these people are getting from Lars.

* * *

Chapter 13: Outpour of Support

On the next day at school, Noah, Zeke, Brutus, Jojo and Marcus walked across the halwlays of Whoville High and when they got there, they were surprised when a huge line formed across the bulletin board and no one knew what was going on and Marcus went up to most of them and he asked, "Hey, what's with the line?"

One who looked at Marcus and he replied, "Someone left a petition yesterday about ending Mexican discimination in this school and we're all waiting in line to sign it so we can end it."

Marcus widened his eyes after hearing that response and he became completely awestruck and then, Jojo walks forward and asked, "What petition?"

Just then, Brent walks in and he stopped to see Jojo and the others standing there and he said, "Guys, can you believe our petition's gaining a lot of attention?"

"Yeah, I saw the line there. It's huge!" Zeke replied.

"What petition?" asked Jojo, again.

Brent chuckled excitedly and said, "This is so cool! We're doing what's best for our school and now hundreds, thousands, millions...maybe even billions more can sign our petition!"

"We even posted it on Twho-tter and Whosebook and we've got over a million ansd some likes and tweets!" Noah added.

"What petition?!" Jojo asked, a little fed up.

They turned to Jojo and Brutus cleared his thoat and replied, "The petition to end Mexican discrimination in this school. You know Lars have been victimized by Jesse and his band of jackasses, right?"

Jojo then recalls that time when he witnessed Jesse harassing Lars this past week and he replied, "Oh, yeah...that's right."

"It was all Brent's idea to end this whole freakin' madness because we should respect people from all different nationalities and I'm sure others who felt like they don't fit in because of their backgrounds and people rejecting them have faced that same thing. If we all join together as one, we'll have made a difference." Brutus added.

Jojo stood there speechless and also impressed that they'd go this further to promote something like that that has because definitely serious around here recently. He chuckled softly and said, "That's actually pretty cool. No one should be rejected because of who they are."

"Well said, J-Mac." Marcus said.

Jojo seemed to be a little humored about that nickname Marcus gave him and he asked, "Since when do you call me 'J-Mac'?"

Marcus chuckled at that and he replied, "Don't know, man."

Several minutes later, the gang went over to the bulletin board and with 10 pages, lots of people signed this petition and surprisingly...the teachers have signed it as well and Noah was blown away by how Brent's idea skyrocketed into something amazing. Next thing, the rest of the gang wrote their signatures for Lars' support and as soon as they were done...

"Is there room for me to sign in?"

Just then, they seek the principal coming in with a pen and Noah graciously allowed him to write the last penmanship of the petition and as soon as he wrote his signature, it's definitely official. Most of them were amazed with a full amount of support to tackle down the issue of discrimination and the principal said, "Whomever started this deserves my full support and my regards to this issue."

Brent went forward and he said, "It was my idea, sir. Lars has been discriminated by several students here and they just made some assumptions to him and his family, thinking that all Mexicans are bad influences and want to go against him and want to kick him out of school. Basically, like taking matters into their own hands."

With each explanation they gave out, the principal became more and more disgusted to hear this and it was especially offensive in a personal level because he's half mexican as well and to hear that a few students would humiliate Lars and treat him in the most outrageously unfairly way really pissed him off, even though he wouldn't show his rage.

"Whomever discriminated Lars will be permanently suspended from this school. Do not worry, students. I will make sure that this discriminative behavior ends here." the principal added.

Hours later...

As everyone is in class, the principal announced, "Will Lars Enrique Ramirez please come to my office immediately? Repeat, Lars Enrique Ramirez in my office immediately."

A very nervous Lars got off his seat and left the classroom, but not before someone got up from the seat and just bashed him in the head through the wall, shocking the teacher, but got a lot of cheers from that random student and jeers from Lars, which completely hurt him; both physically and mentally.

Lars got himself up as he saw a few students giving him the finger and calling him a bunch of random insluts directed at Mexicans and as he walked out of the classroom, he just felt completely hopeless.

"Why does this have to happen to me?" Lars asked.

At the principals' office...

Lars entered in the office and he felt really scared, thinking that he might get in some sort of trouble and as he sat down and faced the principal, he asked, "Did I do something?"

"No, Mr. Ramirez. You didn't do anything." the principal replied.

"Then...what is it, sir?" Lars asked.

The principal lets out a big sigh and he said, "I've heard that you've been discriminated by some of the students here this past week."

Lars didn't think he would actually find that out or even know about it and he asked, "How did you know?"

"Some of your real friends have told me about this and they even had a petition to end this whole thing. I just found that out not too long ago and when I heard about this, I wanted to expel anyone who treated you unfairly." the principal said.

Lars sighed heavily and as he looked at all the petition, he was surprised to find that a lot of signatures were written in 10 pages; people he's never met in the school, some teachers and of course, Jojo and his friends. He became wide-eyed to see that they're all giving him mounds of support in an effort to end this discrimination against him and he said, "All these people did this for me?"

"Yes, they did. We should all stop this dead-on. So give me the names of the people who discriminated harshly against you and I'll be sure to handle this." the principal said as he gave him a sheet of paper and a pen to write their names down.

Lars seemed a little reluctant to do so, but his gut instincts inevitably kicked in and he wrote all the names down on paper and after just 10 minutes, he gives the entire list back to the principal and as he looked at all the names, he was surprised by the many names of people that he got discriminated by and he said, "You're a courageous person."

"Muchas gracias, senor." Lars said.

As the final bell rung a few hours later, the principal made another annoucement for the whole students to hear and he stated, "Attention, class. Before you head to your homes or after-school activities, I have to make a very important announcement to make. Just recently, our new student Lars Enrique Ramirez has not been welcomed by any of the students since he first came to our high school because of discrimination. We will not tolerate this kind of behavior in this school and everyone should be treated fairly. Lars has been gracious enough to write some names of the students that treated him and the Latin culture some nonstop disrespect."

The principal announced some names that have been called in Lars' list and almost most of the students that was mentioned seemed to be outraged, including Jesse and his group. Jesse lets out a growl and said, "No, that mexican bastard did not."

"Any of the students I mentioned on this list will come to the auditorium tomorrow morning and the school administrator will decide their punishment for this. That is all."

Jesse pounded his fist on his locker and he said, "Gather up all the others that sided with us. Lars is gonna pay for this."

* * *

Oh boy...the drama heats up!


	14. Taking a Stand

Now you're about to see how far Jesse would go to so something about Lars. I may warn you; this may include some heavy violence.

* * *

Chapter 14: Taking a Stand

The next morning came around and Jesse arrived in the front of Whoville High a few minutes early before it opens and when he and his gang arrived thee, he saw some of the students that were mentioned had arrived already, ready to wage revenge on Lars.

"Damn, you guys made it fast." Jesse said, surprised.

One who brought in his gun and other random weapons in his case and became fully armed and said, "That Mexican asshole had the balls to turn us in the principal yesterday. He shouldn't have belong there in the first place."

All of the others agreed on that and Marshall was amazed at how much hatred that have for Lars and one female who said, "Well...if that smart-ass principal won't kick him out, we will!"

"What if some of his friends come in and stop us?" another jock asked.

Jesse lets out a sinister chuckle and brought in his machine gun, knife and some tear gas and replied, "I'll handle them."

Devon walked over to them and he asked, "Who wants Lars gone?"

All of them cheered loudly as they raised their fists and weapons to gain revenge on Lars and they don't care if anyone stops them because they're willing to do whatever they can to make Lars' life more miserable. Jesse got into the middle of the pavement and he said, "We all agree. Let's raise hell."

It didn't take long before Lars actually showed up and when he stepped inside the school, he was shocked to see some of the students that have discriminated him have come for revenge and he didn't know what was going on and asked, "What are you doing here?"

None of them even bothered to answer his question and all they had to focus on was starting a huge riot anytime soon and just then, Jesse stepped in and he said, "You have the freakin' nerve to turn us all in because we discriminate you?! That stupid-ass principal can do whatever the hell he wants. We can still mess you up."

Lars didn't like where this was going and he said, "This is not right. Haven't you ever heard of equality?"

"That's a load of bull! It means nothing to all of us!" Marshall shouted, getting on Lars' face.

Two female whos came along and they got to Lars and one of them said, "Your parents should never have moved in here in the first place. You mexicans are all the same; undocumented immigrants that have crossed here illegally."

Lars didn't need to take this and as he walks away from them, Jesse sees this as a threat and he said, "Attack the mexican!"

Everyone rallied in agreement and all hell freakin' broke loose as they shot guns in the air, making Lars feeling alarmed and frightened that something bad's gonna happen and as everyone but Lars put on their gas mask, three random students dropped tear gas on the ground to blind Lars and he covered his mouth and closed his eyes to not get smoke get in his eyes, but while he wasn't looking, Marshall piled in and grabbed him by the arm and threw him down towards the ground.

Lars groans in pain and as he was about to get up, eight others stopped him by kicking him straight in the nuts as they proceeded to kick, punch, slam and slap him straight in the face and suddenly, Devon screams out loud with an arm full of machine guns to shoot at Lars and as he fired them, Lars remembered what his father taught him to avoid certain catastophes; just duck and dodge every shot and so far, he managed to dodge every bullet that sprayed out.

"DAMN IT!" Devon shouted.

Lars panted heavily and quickly as he hid on the other side of the school and almost immediately, he ran towards the quad, hoping no one will find him there. But unfortunately for him...they caught him on the spot.

"Ay, caramba." Lars groans.

"GET HIM!"

Everyone came in with weapons to hunt Lars down and kill him thinking that this is a lesson to be taught and just then, everyone ganged up on him and attacked him, head-on. Lars got punched in the face and someone whacked him in the face with a sledgehammer, causing him to fall down to the ground, his face badly bloody and bruised.

Lars spat out blood and he tries desperately to get help by texting his friends on his Who-phone for help, but before he could send the message, Jesse quickly ran to him at knifepoint and grabs him by the arm and puts the knife on Lars' throat. He was immediately scared and fearful of his life and Jesse said, "You mexicans are all the same. I bet you're gonna murder any one of us the same way one murdered my my dad's best friend when he took a vacation there!"

Lars struggled to get free and he asked, "Why would you think my family would do something like that to you?"

"I swore one day that any Mexican that stepped foot in our school will feel the same way I felt! My dad hated the Mexicans for that and I'm doing the honor for my father!" Jesse screamed.

"Just because someone did something bad to your padre doesn't mean we're gonna do that too! You got us all wrong. We mexicans are good people!" Lars shouted.

"Shut up! I knew you would be a threat to our reputation and I will personally end this right now!"

Just as Jesse was gonna slit his throat, someone out of the blue gave him a head-butt, causing him to let go of Lars and when Lars looked up, he saw Marcus standing there and he asked, "You all right, Lars?"

"Si." he quickly responded.

Jesse got up and he saw Marcus standing there and he was about to beat the crap out of him and he said, "Why the hell would you defend this poser?"

"He's not the poser! You are!" Marcus spat out.

Just then, the others came to abruptly stop the discrimination war, but the others simply refuse to back down and as they came around with guns, knives and various weapons to use at Lars. Jojo was having none of it and he said, "Why are you all so damn afraid of Mexicans? You'd gave to go this much further to kill Lars? What did he ever do to you anyway?"

"He'll become more popular than us! And if someone steps in to threaten our status, we bring them down...no matter what it takes." One popular who responded.

"Does it really matter what they look like or who they are?" asked Diego.

"Yes! In this school, if you wanna be popular...you have to ditch the life you're in. Otherwise, we will shun you on purpose!" another jock added.

Brent was definitely fed up with all of this and started shouting at everyone in angry Spanish and maybe include a little bit of expletives in there as well and Lars completely agreed with anything he said and Jesse said, "Shut up! Brent...you've signed your death certificate!"

Jesse was about to pull the trigger and aim at Lars, but surprisingly...Brent pushed him out of the way and he got shot in the arm, taking a bullet for him. Brent then fell down to the ground and Diego quickly ran over to his side and said, "Brent! Brent, wake up, man!"

Most of them assumed the very worst after this and Marcus said, "Frick! He's dead, man!"

Just then, mounds of police and paramedics came in and they've witnessed the entire melee at the school and as the war continued on, Jesse was gonna shoot Lars anyway and he bellowed, "DIE, MEXICAN!"

Before he could even kill him, he got struck by a taser gun and as he fell down to the ground, a few police offers came in and ended this scene by pulling out fire hoses at the students that caused a freakin' ruckus. And then, Devon came around with some gasoline and planned to pour it on Lars and burn him down, but just as he was about to do that, two whos stepped in and punched him in the face.

"Ya got him, Hector?"

"You bet, Nate!"

Jojo was surprised that Nate and Hector are actually helping them and even he was shocked at well and he asked, "What the...?"

The police officer looked up at Brent and when he examined him, he saw a flesh wound on his left arm and he said, "Get this kid to a gurney."

Brent moans in pain and as he looked up, he saw some of his friends standing there and Diego said, "Brent...hang on, man. Help's on the way."

The sounds were so random that they echoed through him as he was drifting in and out of consciouness and he whispered, "Lars..."

* * *

Was that awesome or what? You may be wondering what's gonna happen to Brent? Next chapter will have the answer.


	15. Huge Wake Up Call

And the aftermath of the whole warfare...

* * *

Chapter 15: Huge Wake-Up Call

Brent slowly opened his eyes and lets out a few groans in pain and as soon as he woke up, he found himself in a much different place and he slowy sat up and he looks around and sees that he's in the emergency room at the hospital and he lets out a few breaths and asked, "How did I get here?"

Brent felt a little sharp pain on his shoulder and winces a little bit and when he looked at his shoulder, he could see his bullet hole there and he almost remembered everything that had happened back at the school when Jesse wanted to shoot Lars, but Brent pushed him out and the bullet struck onto Brent's arm.

He let out a sharp exhale and wondered how he survived through that and he asked, "Am I dead?"

"No, but you could've been."

Brent turns around and he sees a nurse standing there and he looked over at Brent and he said, "You are a very lucky young man. The bullet would've took you out in an instant."

"How do you mean?" asked Brent.

"When the police saw you got shot, they thought you might've gotten killed and the bullet nearly pierced your fatal spot on your left shoulder, but the doctors were able to get it out of you, luckily."

Brent lets out a deep exhale and he could actually visualize that on his head and how what would've happened if he hadn't have survived. But it was a miracle that he's still alive because he risked his life for Lars and th nurse looks at him and responds, "Quick thinking on your part, young man. It takes someone with a lot of courage to do something like that to a friend."

"Aw, it was nothing. I just figured that I would get shot rather than Lars." Brent said.

"But had you not done what you did, you wouldn't be here right now."

Brent froze and he completely agreed with what he said and he considered himself lucky that he got himself a second chance at life and he whispered, "I never thought of that."

Not long after, Jojo and the entire gang entered Brent's room and most of their reactions were of relief, happiness and also worry and Brent lets out a smile and said, "Hey, guys."

"You okay, B?" asked Cody.

Brent nodded his head and he replied, "Never been better."

Diego went over to him, possibly a little bit relieved and pissed off and he said, "Never been better? Dude, do you know how freakin' lucky you are that you're still alive?"

"Now that you mention it..."

Marcus stepped in and he said, "Be grateful you're still alive, man. I would've kicked Jesse's ass for all I care if you died."

Just then, Brutus looked over at the TV and he could see that they were covering the entire story about the shootout at Whoville High and he turned to the others and said, "Hey, guys! Theyt're talking about this on the news!"

Everyone turned to the TV as they reported the story as it went on.

_"We're now live at Whoville High where just a couple of hours ago before school opened up, there was an early massacre going on between most of the students against one mexican kid who was new to the school just recently and apparently wanted to murder him claiming that 'mexicans do not belong and that we'll take matters into our own hands'. Apparently, there was a certain level of discrimination between most of the students that participated in this event in an attempt to kill a 15 year old mexican named Lars Enrique Ramirez. We're giving you the full story on this by Caroline Jepsen." one news announcer added._

They then watched the entire warfare unfold as some of the students that Lars listed that discriminated him were not only causing a riot to the school, but also to some who were from different races, ethnic and sexual orientation that wanted a piece of them and it disgusted Jojo, Marcus, Diego, Brent and Zeke the most that it was happening while they were plotting to do the same to Lars.

_"You'd think those types of people that start riots at schools were most students for whatever subject they couldn't face or deal with and apparently, a new student from another country fell into that category. Jesse Tedder led this entire chaotic and violent riot along with his friends; Marshall Greensberg, Devon Cross, Larry Maverick and Rodney Norwood to gain 'revenge' and/or as they call it 'how to kill a mexican that's threatening our reputation as popular kids' warfare. Apparently, on Jesse's Whosebook page, he typed in his status that reads, 'For all you guys that hate Lars and want to gain revenge for turning us in by that dumb-ass principal, we'll band together to gain our revenge against him. Come tomorrow morning before school starts, he's gonna learn that he stepped into the wrong territory so bring every weapon you can bring and we'll show that principal that mexicans are not allowed to be in this school or even in our country! Lars...you will have your last day in school and life here where you'll be D.O.-freakin' A.'."_

Jojo groans at that part where Jesse stooped so low to update such a status like that on Whosebook and he said, "Man, that is just dumb. Doesn't he know that when he sends such things like that on the internet, everyone's gonna read it anyway?"

"So stupid." Diego added.

_"Martin Gonzalez, principal at Whoville High was disgusted by the fact that 15-year old Lars Enrique Ramirez got discriminated by those students because he's mexican and have treated the new student very unfairly prior to the melee."_

_"I think it's a disgrace and an embarassment for our school to let those students do whatever they wanted to do. Personally, being half-mexican myself...it's just disappointing that there's still discrimination in our country. It think we would've seen the red flags that were raising up based on the tension between Lars an the students that got involved in all this." the principal added._

_"Jesse and 38 other students brought in guns, knives, tear gas, ropes, gasoline, matches and other weapons that morning to start off this discriminating war and luckily, no other students were there at the time when it all began, but at approximately 7:15 am, almost half of the students came to school witnessing a horrific and also disturbing sight that involved bloodshed and gunfire and suddenly, Jesse sees another set of students; most of them he discriminated against by ethnicity and sexual orientation and also different religion and also convinced the others to take them down as well. Jesse's discriminating violent action left 21 students injured, 7 critically injured, but surprisingly, there was only 2 fatalities; a bisexual 16-year old and 17-year old asian student from Korea. All of the victims are in the hospital as of right now and amazingly...no fatalitles occured by the teachers or faculty staff at the time, but it also raised questions about how this could've been prevented had they had recognized it."_

_"Lars was the only one that told me about this just yesterday and a few teachers recognized it, but didn't know what to do to stop it. In our school, we are not one to turn away from any students based on race, sex, religion, ethnicity or any kinds of backgrounds they have. They came for knowledge and will make a difference in their lives and it only took one person who discriminated against it to go to extremes to end it, worrying about their 'popularity'. We will keep investigating this issue until further notice." Principal Gonzalez added._

_"Of those 21 kids that were injured, 16 year old Brent Rodriguez was shot in the arm by Jesse after Brent pushed Lars out of the way before Jesse could pull the trigger. It's unclear whether he survived or not, but we will find out the details. Caroline Jepsen for Who-NN news, Whoville High School."_

_"Now, Jesse had made a very strong and somewhat vulgar statement to us earlier, but has said that he has 'no regrets with what he did and figured that the school needs to shun every student that's not up to the popular clique status and that if he'd do it again, he would...if they weren't caught'. Jesse and those other students are in jail right now, facing multiple charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated murder, bias intimidation and causing damage to an educational facility. The school board has decided to close until further notice to look further into the discrimination rampage that had occured. We'll keep you posted for more updates as this develops."_

Brent chuckled softly and said, "At least I'm mentioned in the news for something."

Suddenly, Brent's parents quickly came into the room and they saw his son still alive and the first thing his mother did was hug him tightly, which also caused Brent to wince at the pain on his arm.

"Ma!" Brent exclaimed.

She quickly lets go and said, "I'm sorry. We've just heard about the news while ago and we thought that you were dead, but it's a miracle that you're alive."

Brent's dad went to him and he said, "Thank goodness you're not dead. Why did you do that?"

Brent sighed heavily and said, "It was all a blur, but when I saw that guy planning to kill Lars, I couldn't let him die...so I had to do something even if it nearly cost me my life."

His dad's eyes were filled with tears and he felt like he could've lost his son during that massacre and he said, "You are everything to me and your mother as well as your brothers and sisters. I'm very proud that you've done the right thing for your friend."

Just then, Lars shows up with his parents and he sees Brent sitting there at the hospital bed and he said, "Are you okay, amigo?"

Brent chuckled softly and replied, "Yeah. Are you?"

"Thank you for saving my life."

Brent chuckled softly and he gives Lars a fist bump to show that their friendship means a lot and the two parents looked over and saw them get along really well and Lars' mother looks at Brent and said, "Thank you for bringing my son out of death. We don't know what our lives would've been like without him."

"You're welcome, Mrs. Ramirez." Brent said.

Jojo chimed in and said, "They said that they won't re-open the school until the investigation has been observed for a few weeks."

"Score! No school, man! Time to take it easy!" Mike exclaimed.

Brutus groans at Mike's outburst and he added, "You're so lolo."

Diego sighed heavily and he said, "Maybe this whole situation will bring everyone a huge wake-up call about discrimination and hopefully, bring everyone together."

"Or maybe that one would." Jonah said, pointing at the TV.

As everyone looked over, they saw Lars' WhoTube video opening up about discrimination that's been shown on TV and everyone was surprised by what Lars gave out when this massacre came to light and it gave everyone a perspective on how well we would treat others.

_"This video has been posted on WhoTube a few days prior to the events that occured at Whoville High and in less than 4 hours after the massacre, it's become a huge viral hit that will shine a light in the dark face of discrimination. We all should take an example from this young mexican and learn how to respect other people from different backgrounds, cultures, beliefs and values they instill. As of today, it has got a current view count of 5.2 billion views, the most watched video in WhoTube history." the news announcer stated._

Everyone's eyes widened after hearing the view count and Mike said, "5.2 billion hits? Dude, you're like an internet sensation!"

"Don't push it, Mike." Diego added.

Mrs. Rodridguez looked over at Lars and she told his parents, "Your son's message is gonna impact a lot of people. You must be very proud."

"We are."

* * *

Was that awesome or what? One more chapter and on the last chapter will be the last time you'll see Jesse.


	16. Getting What's Deserving

And here's where it all ends!

* * *

Chapter 16: Getting What's Deserving

A week has passed after the whole massacre had occured, Brent was walking through the apartments with a sling on his arm that Jesse shot him at, but managed to keep the bullet hole as a sign that he did what he did for Lars and when he went to the basketball court, he seeks some of his friends playing and this time around, he's gonna just sit and watch but will still cheer them on.

"Hey, look who showed up." Diego said, watching Brent coming in.

Brent chuckled softly and as he sat down on the bench and he said, "Very funny, D. I just came in to watch you guys play, seeing as how I'm gonna be on this cast for like 5 weeks. After it's healed, I'm still gonna kick your butt."

"Them's fighting words, B."

Just then, Zeke asked, "How's Lars doing?"

Brent chuckled softly and he said, "He's doing fine. In fact, I think this whole thing brought us a lot closer together. We latinos have to stick together."

"That's great to hear." Jojo added, dribbling the ball and throwing it into the net.

Diego and Marcus were amazed at that one-shot Jojo you made and Marcus said, "Looks like we'll give the victory to McDodd."

Just then, they see Nate and Hector coming in the basketball court and almost immediately, most of them were immediately disgusted by the fact that they came here and Marcus said, "Came here to cause trouble, aren't ya? Because you know we're not taking any of your crap, right?"

Nate chuckled softly and he said, "Yeah, whatever! We came for that Brent dude."

They looked at Brent and he got up and faced both of them and he asked, "Yeah?"

"You know, that was really great...what you did for that mexican dude." Nate said, with a smile.

It pretty much shocked everyone when they heard that Nate is thanking Brent for his actions and Diego asked, "What happened to you guys?"

Nate looked at Diego and he said, "Look, we may always hate your guts and probably kick your asses a lot, but after everything that's happened...it pretty much struck a nerve on Hector because he's half-mexican too. Well, we sorta are. It's not a trick or a joke we're pulling. We just thought that it was really cool of you guys to do that."

"Um...thanks?" asked Diego, confusedly.

Hector spoke some Spanish to Brent and he also responded with a thank you as well and very quickly, Nate went in and said, "Just so you know, if you tell anyone that we're complimenting you guys, we're gonna kick you losers straight in the loser nuts, got it?"

"Why would we tell anyone?" asked Marcus.

"Better not." Hector added.

Both of them left the court, but not before giving most of them the finger and Diego gives them the finger too with an added 'thank you', which disgusted both Nate and Hector as they went away. Diego chuckled softly and said, "Man, those punks are a couple of ass-kissers."

"Don't we know it." Zeke agreed.

Just then, Lars walked by the basketball court and he said, "Hey, guys! They're showing Jesse in court on the news tonight."

"Oh, really? We oughta see that!" Jojo said, excitedly.

"You guys are invited over to my house to see this."

"Sweet!" they all exclaimed.

At the Ramirez house...

Jojo, Lars, Brent and everyone in the gang went to the big theater room to see the entire courthouse story unfold and they look and see Jesse, stone faced and stuff thinking that he might be in the clear and Cody said, "You can see the look on his face like 'I'm not guilty'. Come on, he's guilty and he knows it."

"Good pop song reference, Codes." Mike added.

_"Obviously, the reason why he chose to do that is because he is afraid. Afraid that Lars might interfere and/or sabotage the clique effect in this school and the fact that a mexican killed his father years ago and wanted to prevent this from happening. So he got on the internet, posted a very violent status on his social networking site syaing that he's gonna effing kill Lars Enrique Ramirez and to show the entire school that they should consider shunning every student that isn't up to their popularity status." one defense attorney added._

Cody, Mike and the others began to boo, jeer and hiss over what the D.A. had put in on Jesse's behalf and the paretns completely disagree with that ridiculous statement and Marcus said, "Who cares about the popularity status? It's just a list."

"Now I know what D.A. really stands for...douche-bag attorney." Diego added.

"Good one, D."

_"It is accostumed to me that Jesse should not be anywhere in school grounds nor would anyone else that participated in this chaotic event that occured this past week. Lars was right on turning all of you in just for your unruly, disrespectful and discriminating behavior you engaged in. I would've given you a lighter punishment like suspension for 2 weeks, but now...permanent explusion is a better suited punishment." Principal Gonzalez added._

_Jesse stood up outraged and he asked, "What the hell, man? It's Lars you should suspend! He's just mexican and mexicans are drug dealers, illegal immigrants and are considered dangerous. I'm doing what's best for our reputation!"_

_"It's MY job to worry about what's best for the school!"_

_"You should've expelled his mexican ass weeks ago, you asshole!"_

Everyone gasped in shock when Jesse dropped out the 'A' word onto the principal and Frankie said, "Oh, no he didn't."

"You cannot say that to a principal. That'll put you in a deeper hole than the one you're already in, dude!" Marcus exclaimed.

"They should've added in disorderly conduct to an educator." Seth chimed in.

_"You do realize you're in big trouble than the one you're in now, aren't ya?" the judge asked._

_Jesse's response...the finger. _

Brutus dropped his jaw when he saw what Jesse did to the judge and he said, "Yeah, he's gonna get his ass kicked."

_"On that note, do you find yourself guilty or not guilty?"_

_"Not guilty, bitch! I'm not guilty! I'm glad I did what I did otherwise our whole popular image would've been jeopardized!" Jesse exclaimed._

The Ramirez parents and the Rodriguez parents were disgusted by Jesse's disrespectful foul language and attitude towards the judge and Mr. Rodriguez said, "If he was my son, I'd send him to military school."

"Or boarding school." Mr. Ramirez added.

_"Let's just go in for the verdict, please." the judge added._

_"For the counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, we the jury in the above entitled case find the defendant...guilty."_

_"Attempted murder, guilty."_

_"Aggravated murder, not guilty."_

_"As for the charges of causing damage to an education facility, guilty."_

_"And as for bias intimidation, we the jury find the defendant guilty."_

_"As for discrimination, guilty."_

They heard the counts of bias intimidation and discrimination go guilty and it was like a build-up for the victory compared to what's gonna happen next and what's next...is a shocker.

_"As for the murder of two students, we the jury find the defendant...guilty."_

_"And for the participants...we find them all guilty of bias intimidation, attempted assault, conspiracy to commit a riot or murder, causing damage to an educational facility, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and discrimination."_

_The judge looked over and said, "As mandated by the court...Jesse Ryan Tedder, you are hereby sentenced to life in prison."_

_Jesse looked dumbfounded and shocked to hear that he's gonna spend life in prison for those charges and the judges said, "Your parents will pay for all medical expenses to the victims...including one Brent Rodriguez. And the parents of the participants in this war will pay for all the pain and suffering you and your friends caused Lars with your discriminating ways. The participants in this war will also serve in a juvenile center until they reach 18 to serve life in jail."_

Everyone cheered for the decision on TV and everyone hugged each other as they felt justice was served...big time. But what happened at the courtroom next will surprise them even more.

_Jesse punched the crap out of the D.A. and other officers came to stop him, but Jesse and the rest of the participants caused another melee in the courtroom as they took out out on the attorneys, bailliffs and onlookers, making the courthouse into a full-fledged fight fest. Eventually, the officers gained enough strength to tase them all down and one by one, they're all in handcuffs and the judge also stated, "And also one count of disorderly conduct in a courtroom and assaulting officers. Take them all away!"_

_The judged banged the gavel as Jesse and the others got out of there in handcuffs, literally screaming at his parents, dropping 'F' bombs to them, Lars and possibly everyone else._

"Man, I'll never call a courthouse trial cover story boring again." Diego added.

Jojo chuckled and said, "At least they made it interesting."

Brent smiled and said, "Now that they're getting what they deserve, this will shine a light to know that we do not need to discriminate. We're all friends no matter who we are and where we come from."

"So true, Brent." Mike added.

Mrs. Ramirez stood up and she said, "So...who's up for some Mexican food?"

Everyone got up from the theater room to gain some mexican grub and they were definitely excited to have some and Lars looks up and sees that he's got great friends and when the TV started to re-air Lars' video message, he hopes that it will send a message to some that have been discriminated and to accept people based on who they are because they're born this way.

"Hey, Lars. You coming?" asked Jojo.

Lars looks up and he lets out a smile and said, "Right behind ya."

* * *

Originally, this wasn't supposed to be the final chapter, but I figured that having Jesse being seen for the last time...turned out to be pretty good. I'd like to thank you guys for liking this fic and reading it! I'm gonna be in and out for making HHaW fics, but I'll make some more when I can. So thank you all and AniUniverse is signing off!


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